Competition for Grammy gold is especially stiff this year. The Recording Academy received a record 22,000 submissions, 17,000 of which were deemed eligible and sent in ballots to about 12,000 voting members. Winners will be unveiled Jan. 26 on the Grammy Awards.

Artistic excellence is rarely the sole criterion at play here, giving critics plenty to bray about and little to work with as handicappers, since politics, popularity and label or genre loyalties tend to cloud forecasts.

Rihanna and pals A$AP Rocky and Calvin Harris had the crowd on its feet at Thursday night's opening of the party known as the MTV Video Music Awards inside Staples Center in Los Angeles.

But by the time the show ended, One Direction, the British boy band created by Simon Cowell, found itself with the most Moonman trophies: best pop video, best new artist and most share-worthy.

The prize-giving started early as a few awards were handed out during the preshow. Among the early winners: X-Factor judge Demi Lovato, who won best video with a message for Skyscraper, and Calvin Harris, who took home a trophy for best electronic dance video.

Click to see a gallery of images of Drake performing at Bridgestone Arena on Fri. Feb., 17, 2012 (photo: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean)

Canadian rapper Drake headlined Bridgestone Arena on Friday night with support from opening acts A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar.

But before he took the main stage at the arena, he was front and center for a much smaller group. Drake made a surprise visit to Martin Luther King Academic Magnet School in Nashville. While there, the rapper posed for pictures, answered students’ questions and raffled off tickets to his Bridgestone show.

Hip-hop sensation Drake will perform at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on February 17 with special guests A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar. The concert marks the second time the Grammy-nominated rapper/singer has performed in Music City.

Tickets are $69.50, $49.50 and $29.50 and go on sale Saturday, January 7 at 10 a.m. at www.livenation.com, the Bridgestone Arena Box Office or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Click to see a gallery of photos from the 42nd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards (this image of Garth Brooks and Billy Joel: Charles Sykes/AP Photo).

NEW YORK (AP) - The Songwriters Hall of Fame has honored the likes of country titan Garth Brooks, Middle Tennessee-based rock mainstay Leon Russell and New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint at its annual gala in New York City.

Amid the famous faces, some of Thursday night's inductees weren't so familiar -- that is, until you heard the songs they penned.

Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly might be able to walk the streets in anonymity, but they've written some famously catchy hits, including Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," Whitney Houston's "So Emotional," and The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You."

"It was pretty risque at the time," Kelly said of the Madonna song. "It took us about a month to finally, accidentally fall into what it ended up."Continue reading →

Salt N Pepa play the "Legends of Hip-Hour Tour" at Municipal Auditorium on March 18 (photo: North American Entertainment Group).

If the phrase "Legends of Hip-Hop" strikes you as odd, you're certainly not alone. Rap music, by and large, remains a young folks game, so amid young guns such as Drake and Nicki Minaj, it's easy to forget that it's now a 30-year-old art form.

Which brings us to the "Legends of Hip-Hop Tour," one of the genre's first large-scale nostalgia tours, hitting Municipal Auditorium on Friday, March 18. Headlining this old-school shebang is Salt N Pepa, who are frequently (and rightly) cited as hip-hop's breakthrough female act but also deserve credit as one of its first pop successes.

If the thought of getting down to "Push It" and "Whatta Man" in an arena didn't hook you already, a host of hip-hop pioneers are along for the ride: oddball MC Biz Markie, battle rap legend Kool Moe Dee, beatbox architect Doug E. Fresh and early R&B/rap fusionists Whodini.

With Grammy night a week and change away, the Recording Academy has announced a new round of performers and first round of presenters.

Country stars Dierks Bentley and Blake Shelton are among the presenters set to take the stage at the awards show, held Feb. 13 at Los Angeles' Staples Center. Other folks holding envelopes: Norah Jones, Selena Gomez, LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj.

This year’s installment of Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring festival brought rapidly rising hip-hop name Drake, indie-scene standouts Phoenix, Passion Pit and Cold War Kids, R&B newcomer Melanie Fiona, laid-back folk-rock star Ben Harper and JJ Grey and Mofro to the school's Alumni Lawn on Friday and Saturday, April 23-24. Click the image below to see a gallery of photos from the fest.

Click to see a gallery of photos from Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring festival (this image of Drake: Alan Poizner/for The Tennessean).